Solve Your Water Problems: Wicking Beds
One of the biggest challenges in growing abundant, healthy food is managing the amount of water needed for your plants.
What is the most efficient way to water your plants? With wicking beds.
One of the biggest challenges in growing abundant, healthy food is managing the amount of water needed for your plants.
This is especially true in hot and dry climates where water is limited.
When evaporation exceeds rainfall, every drop of water must be saved. Reducing evaporation is the most vital strategy when you find yourself in such a scenario.
That's where wicking beds come in.
What is a wicking bed?
A wicking bed is a contained area for holding your soil and plants –just like a normal garden bed– that has space underneath for holding water.
Much like the ground you stand on has a soil layer that can house plants and trees and a rock layer where the water table sits.
You emulate this with a wicking bed by keeping the water underneath and the growing medium (soil) on top.
Wicking beds don't have to be complicated. You can use any type of container you like as long as it is safe for plants.
The most important thing to remember is that plants in a wicking bed are watered from below as opposed to from on top like you normally would.
The water reaches the roots directly and will not evaporate in the sun since there is no water on the surface.
Benefits of using a wicking bed
A wicking bed allows you to use only as much water as you need without wasting a drop.
All the water is held below the soil surface so there is no water loss due to evaporation. This also encourages your plants to grow stronger and deeper roots.
Because the bottom of the wicking bed holds water, you can build your beds as a water storage system. Connect each of the beds to flow into each other and direct overflow to a tree or pond.
Nothing is wasted.
Wicking beds can be built very quickly and cheaply, making them an ideal solution for aid projects.
When to use a wicking bed
You can use a wicking bed in just about any situation.
Wicking beds are most useful in hot, dry climates where water is scarce.
Integrate wicking beds in your system with good mulch and shade and you can grow food in the middle of the desert without worrying if your plants are getting enough water.
As mentioned above, wicking beds can be built in with a water storage system.
You can direct water over flow to and from your wicking beds or simply water the bottom chamber to ensure you're not losing a drop to evaporation.
How to make a wicking bed
The most basic wicking bed can be two plant pots placed on top of each other.
The bottom pot can be filled with stones or gravel and the top pot can be placed on top of that. Make sure you have some holes in the top pot then fill it with soil and start planting.
You simply fill the bottom pot with enough water to soak the soil just enough for your plants.
If you want to build bigger wicking beds you can place a pipe that sinks into your container to make it easier to fill with water.
Fill the bottom half with gravel and cover with a permeable fabric to hold the water without mixing with the soil on top. Fill the rest with some good soil or compost and finally cover with a thick layer of mulch.
Here are three excellent videos showing how to build wicking beds of different sizes: